Aggies show fight but fall to No. 16 BYU before record Spectrum crowd
Utah State Volleyball showed stretches of its best play of the season on Sept. 19, but No. 16 BYU’s firepower and depth proved too much in a 25-18, 25-19, 25-22 sweep inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
The loss dropped the Aggies to 2-7 on the season, while the Cougars improved to 11-0 in a matchup that highlighted both USU’s progress and its growing fan support.
The Aggies drew a program-record 4,932 fans, nearly hitting the 5,000 mark. The HURD student section and local community packed the Spectrum with an energy that fueled long rallies and a third-set surge that had BYU scrambling.
“That’s as cool an environment as you’re going to get,” head coach Rob Neilson said. “This school is becoming a volleyball school. To be pushing 5,000 in attendance is one of the big goals we had when we first got here.”
Early in the match, the Aggies’ offense kept pace with the Cougars through strong swings from middle blocker Tierney Barlow and outside hitter Mara Stiglic. Barlow was nearly unstoppable when in rhythm, finishing with 11 kills on 15 attempts for a .733 hitting percentage. Stiglic added 10 kills on .381 hitting and played a key role in USU’s third-set push.
Setter Kaylie Kofe tallied 31 assists and an ace, while libero Kendal Thompson anchored the defense with eight digs.
Utah State hit .258 as a team, a number Neilson pointed to as a positive considering how often BYU’s serve forced the Aggies out of system.
“They served us really tough, got us off the net and made us one-dimensional,” Neilson said. “When you’re that far off the net against a big, physical team, it’s really hard to score enough points. But I was impressed that we still hit .260 with how far we were out of system.”
The first set slipped away after a series of service errors — three in a six-point stretch — gave BYU momentum.
The Cougars’ outside duo of Claire Little Chambers and Suli Davis took over from there, combining for 26 kills on the night. Davis, the former No. 1 recruit in the country, finished with a team-high 15 kills and 8 digs, while Chambers added 11 kills and hit .250. Setter Alex Bower spread the attack with 37 assists, and libero Emma Barbero contributed nine digs.
The Aggies hung close in the second set, pulling even at 15-15 on a Stiglic kill after a Barlow slide and a Loryn Helgesen ace gave the Aggies momentum. But BYU’s front line stiffened with Abby Hoybjerg and Bower stuffing an Aggie swing at the net before Davis delivered consecutive kills to put the set out of reach.
The third set brought the loudest moment of the night. Blocks from Lauren Larkin and Helgesen, a Kofe ace and consecutive kills from Stiglic gave Utah State a 15-7 lead.
The Spectrum roared, sensing an Aggie breakthrough, but BYU responded with a 9-0 run behind a service ace from Hannah Billeter and a pair of Brielle Kemavor blocks. The Aggies fought back within three points on a Stiglic kill and a Larkin block, but Davis delivered the final swing to close it at 25-22.
Despite the sweep, both Neilson and Barlow emphasized the positives afterward.
“Those two outsides they have are phenomenal,” Neilson said. “One was picked to be player of the year in the Big 12, and the other was the number one recruit in the country, and they both played phenomenal. We put pressure on them, just not quite enough.”
Barlow echoed that sentiment.
“Even though it was a tough loss, I felt like things finally clicked for us tonight,” she said. “We were proud of each other in the locker room. We’ve been working on defense and serve receive, and I think we saw that improvement out there. The HURD fuels us every game, and with conference starting next week, we’re excited to build off this.”
BYU finished with 44 kills on .316 hitting compared to Utah State’s 38 kills on .258. The teams were nearly even in digs — 33 for BYU and 32 for USU — and in blocks, with BYU holding a 7–5 edge. A key difference maker was Utah State’s 11 service errors.
The Aggies wrap up nonconference play Sept. 20 at noon against Weber State before opening Mountain West competition next week, carrying lessons from a night that displayed both their potential and the standard required to compete with the nation’s elite.